Bayonne child awaits second heart transplant

Courtesy of the Dziekan familySix-year-old Matthew Dziekan of Bayonne, who is waiting for a heart transplant.

Though he still faces tough odds, a young child from Bayonne is still alive thanks to modern medicine.

Six-year-old Matthew Dziekan, who received a heart transplant when he was three months old, suffered a heart attack in March. Thanks to the work of the medical personnel at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, he survived.

But he faces a major obstacle before he can resume life as a kindergartner at the Bailey Elementary School, fulfill his dream to ride a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train, and take advantage of an all-expense-paid trip to Disney World. He needs a new heart.

Matthew remains at the hospital, building his strength for another heart transplant operation. He will be placed on the list for a new heart as soon as doctors determine he is healthy enough to survive surgery, his mother, Laureen Dziekan said. Perhaps he’ll be home by December, she said.

Matthew was born with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a disorder that causes stiffness of the heart muscle and prevents it from properly filling its chambers with blood.

He received a heart transplant when he was three months old, but the heart did not work as well as the family hoped.

“When Matthew was feeling good, he was full of life,” Laureen Dziekan said.

But shortly after the transplant he “had issues,” she said. “He had a pacemaker put in a year later.”

Feeling low, Matthew returned to the hospital toward the end of February for an electrolyte balancing treatment. While at the hospital, on March 5, he suffered a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.

His father, Erik Dziekan, was in his room when the heart attack occurred and quickly summoned a nurse. “An extra 20 or 30 seconds and things could have been completely different,” Erik Dziekan said.

Medical personnel at the hospital performed CPR for 90 minutes, until Matthew could be transferred to a heart and lung machine.

Laureen Dziekan said doctors initially believed the heart attack might have caused severe brain damage, but that proved not to be the case.

Matthew is working his way off the ventilator and doing physical therapy to grow strong enough to receive a new heart. And then there is the issue of finding a new heart.

“Pediatric organs are so hard to come by, and there are so many kids waiting,” Laureen Dziekan said.

Matthew was recently granted his wish to go to Disney World by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, his aunt, Jean Massarelli, said.

“His family remains hopeful and prayerful that he will once again be able to do the things he loves,” Massarelli said. “Maybe he might be home for Christmas, get to ride the Light Rail, which is something he had been waiting to do, and take that trip to Disney World.”